Tom Holland's "Uncharted" looking for new director, again

Writer: Florey DM

23 Aug – The big screen adaptation of "Uncharted" seems to be stuck at the same level, one where it has to successfully keep a director onboard for the whole duration of the project.

Another director, the fifth so far, has exited the project, according to Deadline.

Dan Trachtenberg ("10 Cloverfield Lane") is no longer attached to direct and Sony Pictures is now looking for a replacement, hoping to have one by end of summer.

The video game to movie adaptation, which is set to be the first feature production under Sony PlayStation Productions and currently stars Tom Holland ("Spider-Man: Far from Home") as the lead, has been in development hell since it was first announced in 2010.

Back then Mark Wahlberg was tapped to star with David O. Russell set to direct. Russell left in 2011, to be replaced by Neil Burger, who then dropped out in 2012. It will be about two years before Seth Gordon signed on as director, with Chris Pratt rumoured as the lead this time, but Gordon then left a year later in 2015.

Shawn Levy came onboard to direct in 2016, during which Wahlberg finally confirmed he was no longer starring in the movie. That same year, Holland was announced as the lead, playing a younger version of the character in the movie – which is now a prequel – before he came to be known as the older Nathan Drake in the games.

Mark Wahlberg is no longer Nathan Drake in "Uncharted" after the starring role
switched to a much younger character.

In 2018, Levy exited the project. Trachtenberg took on the directing role in January 2019.

It remains to be seen whether the new yet-to-be-found director will decide to keep Holland. Seeing that the 23-year-old is pretty bankable now thanks to his Spider-Man role, high chances are he'll stick around.

Speaking of Holland's Spider-Man, as was reported a couple of days ago, the web-slinger is no longer part of the MCU. When news first broke, it was reportedly Sony's refusal to give Disney a higher cut of the profits that brought on the Sony-Marvel divorce.

Sony has since released a statement saying that it was Disney's decision to not let Kevin Feige continue as lead producer for the upcoming "Spider-Man" movie that led to the end of the collaboration. Part of the statement read, "We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him-including all their newly added Marvel properties-do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own."

Regardless of his Spidey drama, if all goes well with Holland's "Uncharted", the movie will begin production in early 2020.